Where The Wealthiest Live: Cities With The Most Billionaires

Ryan Salchert
, ContributorI cover billionaires, their businesses and how they spend their moneyOpinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

It’s official: There are more billionaires than ever spread across the globe: This year’s FORBES list of the 2,043 richest spans six continents, 71 countries and territories and hundreds of cities.

You’re most likely to have a 10-digit neighbor if you live in the United States, China or India, but which are the cities where the most billionaires reside?

We’ve combed through the ranks to find the top 20.

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

#1 New York

Billionaire population: 82

Combined net worth: $397.9 billion

Richest individual: David Koch ($48.3 billion)

New York City continues to boast more billionaires than any other city in the world. David Koch is the city’s richest resident, followed closely by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

That’s a flip-flop from the Forbes 400 List of richest Americans in September 2016, when Bloomberg was richer than Koch.

(Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images)

#2 Hong Kong

Billionaire population: 75

Combined net worth: $297.8 billion

Richest individual: Li Ka-shing ($31.2 billion)

In a city that’s home to more than seven million people, it’s easy to see how real estate has made the fortunes of so many. Some 25 of those billionaires get the bulk of their fortune from real estate. One of the more colorful ones is Joseph Lau (net worth: $15 billion), who bought space in Hong Kong newspapers in November to announce that he was no longer with his longtime lover and mother of two of his children and was planning to marry former journalist Kimbee Chan. He then appointed Chan executive director of his real estate firm, Chinese Estates Holdings.

(Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg)

#3 Moscow

Billionaire population: 73

Combined net worth: $297 billion

Richest individual: Leonid Mikhelson ($18.4 billion)

Russia’s largest city is home to many billionaires who have made their fortunes from industries ranging from steel, metals, oil, coal and natural gas -- including all ten of Moscow’s richest people.

Vladimir Lisin, the country’s biggest gainer, saw his fortune climb $6.8 billion in one year (to $16.1 billion) thanks in part to rallying steel prices and a stronger Russian ruble. He chairs NLMK Group, one of the world’s largest steel producers, whose shares rose 69% in a year.

His Dalian Wanda Group opened Wanda City, a $3 billion theme park complex last May in Nanchang, in the southeastern Jiangxi Province, in an attempt to compete with Walt Disney’s theme parks.

(Photographer: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg)

#5 London

Billionaire population: 50

Combined net worth: $217.3 billion

Richest individual: Len Blavatnik ($20 billion)

Philip and Cristina Green (net worth: $4.8 billion) made news this year, mostly because they are perhaps among London’s least popular residents.

Since their home retailer, BHS, collapsed, 19,000 British workers’ pensions have been at risk. In October 2016, the parliament voted to strip Philip Green of his knighthood. In late February, he agreed to pay about $450 million to cover the pension deficit.

(Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

#6 Mumbai

Billionaire population: 41

Combined net worth: $149.1 billion

Richest individual: Mukesh Ambani ($23.2 billion)

Since first making the FORBES billionaires list in 2003, Ambani has been Mumbai’s richest resident every year.

His Reliance Industries is locked in a legal battle with the government over developing a gas field. The company’s 4G phone service Jio, which launched last September, has secured 100 million subscribers to date.

(Shutterstock)

#7 Shanghai

Billionaire population: 40

Combined net worth: $91.9 billion

Richest individual: Liu Yongxing ($6.6 billion)

China’s largest city remains in the seventh spot on our list despite adding 14 new billionaire residents since last year.

Among them is Yu Huijiao (net worth: $3.6 billion), who took his delivery business YTO Express public via a reverse merger on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in October 2016.

(Shutterstock)

#8 Seoul

Billionaire population: 37

Combined net worth: $91.4 billion

Richest individual: Kun-Hee Lee ($15.1 billion)

Seoul is home to Korea’s biggest and best known conglomerate, Samsung, and the city’s richest man remains Samsung chairman Lee Kun-Hee, whose wealth rose $5.5 billion in the past year to $15.1 billion. In February 2017, his only son and heir to the Samsung empire, Jay Y. Lee, was arrested, indicted and jailed on bribery charges. He is accused of paying around $38 million to a longtime confidante of impeached President Park Geun-hye to secure a controversial merger, which prosecutors say was key to consolidate control of the company. Jay Y. Lee denied wrongdoing.

(Shutterstock)

#9 Shenzhen

Billionaire population: 35

Combined net worth: $129.4 billion

Richest individual: Ma Huateng ($24.9 billion)

Of this Chinese city’s 35 billionaires, six are new this year, including Zhang Fan ($2.9 billion), chairman of biometrics company Shenzhen Huiding Technology; and Wu Lanlan ($2 billion), vice chairman of Shenzhen Yuto Packaging.

Robotics, real estate and electronics helped mint many of the resident billionaires, including the world’s first drone billionaire, Frank Wang ($3.6 billion). Wang is the founder and CEO of drone maker SZ Dajiang Innovation Technology.

(Photographer: Noah Berger/Bloomberg News.)

#10 San Francisco

Billionaire population: 32

Combined net worth: $86.6 billion

Richest individual: Dustin Moskovitz ($10.7 billion)

All 32 of San Francisco’s wealthiest, including three new billionaires, saw their fortunes remain the same or rise over the last year, indicating the continued strength of the tech hub.

Companies such as Uber, Airbnb, Pinterest and Twitter all have founders or executives in our ranks.

(Shutterstock)

#11 Singapore

Billionaire population: 25

Combined net worth: $67.8 billion

Richest individuals: Robert & Philip Ng ($8.7 billion)

Singapore’s richest father-son pair, Raj Kumar and Kishin RK ($2.4 billion), are celebrating the 70th anniversary of their Royal Holdings/RB Capital property empire with a flurry of new launches.

Their 300-room Park Hotel Farrer Park and Farrer Square Medical Suites, both in Singapore’s Little India district, and the 226-room InterContinental Hotel at Robertson Quay are due to open in mid-2017.

(Shutterstock)

#12 Hangzhou

Billionaire population: 24

Combined net worth: $86.6 billion

Richest individual: Jack Ma ($28.3 billion)

E-commerce giant Alibaba is responsible for the fortune of three of Hangzhou’s resident billionaires.

Mehmet Nazif Gunal ($1.6 billion), who made his fortune thanks to his construction and tourism company MNG Holding, saw his net worth rise 45% over the past year, more than any other Istanbul billionaire.

He owns 5-star hotel brand World of Wonders, which operates ten such hotels across Turkey. His hotels are concentrated in Turkey’s most important tourism regions, including Antalya, Bodrum and Istanbul.

(Shutterstock)

#13 (Tie) Taipei

Billionaire population: 23

Combined net worth: $57.1 billion

Richest individual: Terry Gou ($7.5 billion)

Of Taipei’s 23 billionaires, 15 trace their wealth to the finance, real estate or electronics sectors.

Taipei’s wealthiest man, Terry Gou ($7.5 billion), is $1.9 billion richer than last year thanks to shares of his Hon Hai Precision Industry climbing 30% in 12 months. The company, better known as Foxconn, is the world’s biggest maker of smartphones.

(Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

#13 (Tie) Tokyo

Billionaire population: 23

Combined net worth: $81.4 billion

Richest individual: Masayoshi Son ($21.2 billion)

Tokyo’s richest resident, who is also the country’s richest, Masayoshi Son has seen his net worth increase by $9.5 billion over the last year and has been bulking up his mobile telecom firm Softbank.

In July 2016, the company announced it would acquire British semiconductor design firm ARM Holdings for $31 billion in cash. In late March Softbank said it would invest $300 million in office rental firm WeWork.

(Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News)

#16 Sao Paulo

Billionaire population: 22

Combined net worth: $82.3 billion

Richest individual: Joseph Safra ($20.5 billion)

Aside from being the most populous city in the southern hemisphere, Sao Paulo is also a key financial center.

Eight of the city’s billionaires owe their fortune to banks, including Brazil’s second richest man, Joseph Safra ($20.5 billion), who owns three banks.

(Shutterstock)

#17 Los Angeles

Billionaire population: 21

Combined net worth: $74.5 billion

Richest individual: Elon Musk ($13.9 billion)

Los Angeles, known for its entertainment culture, is home to a group of billionaires as diverse as the city.

Among them are 26-year old Evan Spiegel ($4 billion), who cofounded Snap Inc. (formerly called Snapchat).

(Shutterstock)

#18 (Tie) Paris

Billionaire population: 18

Combined net worth: $155.4 billion

Richest individual: Bernard Arnault ($41.5 billion)

Paris is home to two of the 14 richest people in the world: Bernard Arnault (net worth: $41.5 billion) and Liliane Bettencourt (net worth: $39.5 billion). Bettencourt, also the richest woman in the world, is the principal shareholder of cosmetics giants L’Oréal, and Arnault is the CEO of LVMH, a luxury goods conglomerate which owns brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior and Hennessy.

They have switched spots in the past year, with Arnault passing Bettencourt in the ranks.

#18 (Tie) Bangkok

Billionaire population: 18

Combined net worth: $60.7 billion

Richest individual: Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi ($15.8 billion)

The city’s wealthiest person, Charoen, is $5 billion richer thanks to shares of his Thai Beverage.

It rose 41% over the last year amidst a flurry of new deals and acquisitions.

(Shutterstock)

#20 (Tie) Delhi

Billionaire population: 17

Combined net worth: $54.7 billion

Richest individual: Shiv Nadar ($12.3 billion)

Three new billionaires and one returnee helped bump the Indian capital’s billionaire count to 17 this year. Newcomers include Vijay Shekhar Sharma ($1.3 billion), who controls Paytm, which runs India’s largest mobile payment service, Paytm Wallet; Mahendra Prasad ($1.2 billion), a longstanding member of parliament and the founder of Indian generics maker Aristo Pharmaceuticals; and Analjit Singh ($1.2 billion) who owns Max Group, with interests in healthcare, insurance and specialty packaging film.

(Shutterstock)

#20 (Tie) Guangzhou

Billionaire population: 17

Combined net worth: $56.3 billion

Richest individual: William Ding ($17.3 billion)

Ding has surpassed Hui Ka Yan ($10.2 billion) as Guangzhou’s richest resident, thanks to the continued success of his NASDAQ-listed NetEase, a mobile games company. Of all the Guangzhou billionaires, only he and Xu Bo ($4.1 billion) have made their fortunes from videogames.

The industry responsible for the most billionaires in Guangzhou? Real estate.